SITE CLEANING?

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Sunday, Sept. 5, 2004 1:22 p.m. EDT
Brinkley: Navy Probe Could Doom Kerry Campaign

Sen. John Kerry's campaign biographer Douglas Brinkley said Sunday that if an ongoing Navy investigation into Kerry's military decorations turns up evidence of "purposeful" deception, it could spell doom for the top Democrat's White House bid.

Praising reporter Thomas Lipscomb, who broke news of the Navy investigation on Friday, Brinkley told WABC Radio's Steve Malzberg, "Journalists are going to have to see whether there's a discrepancy on [the citations posted to Kerry's] Web site - whether there's something wrong that's said there or not."

Might make you wonder what will disappear from the site, now. Will there be some fall cleaning?

A SCENARIO

A 3/13/69 scenario: Kerry’s boat was close enough to PCF-3 that when the mine went off, blew 3-boat feet out of the water, the resulting force from 3-boat’s tons of gravitational return propelled a wall of water into 94-boat causing a violent lurch of Kerry’s boat, which he thought was a mine. This lurch tossed Rassmann into the water.

There was not a near-simultaneous indistinguishable mine hit on 94-boat. The 94-gunner would not have been firing prior to the mine explosion under 3-boat. There were seconds of firing before the gun jammed; there were seconds to realize another weapon was needed; a few seconds for Rassmann to grab the weapon and get onto the deck and get tossed off the boat. Those seconds were most likely the time it took for the wall of water to hit Kerry’s boat. (Even a fat man doing a cannonball off a diving board looks like a mine explosion. Envision it: tons of the 50-ft. fast boat hitting the water.)

Sequence: PCF-3 was first to feel the action, then came firing to suppress a perceived assault, a gun jammed on the bow of 94, followed by Rassmann’s taking a weapon toward the bow, the wall of water hits Kerry’s boat—sudden violent lurch, water all over the place, Rassmann is tossed off, PCF-94 tromps on the gas.

THE SINGLE TOUR

Kerry claimed two tours in Vietnam. The first could be aboard the ship “Gridley.” However, the Gridley made a circular trip past Subic Bay, paused adjacent to Vietnam for a few weeks, and continued on to New Zealand. The ship departed for WEST Pacific in February 9, 1968, and returned to California in early June, 1968; it was a four-month sail. Hardly considered a combat tour in Vietnam.

Here is the first tour [ToD, p188]:
“PCF-44’s first patrol out of Cat Lo—“

Individually, the events of those four days seemed insignificant compared with many incidents later in Kerry’s second tour of duty.

Therefore, those first days on PCF-44 (in November/December, 1968) were Kerry’s FIRST Tour of Duty. The first tour did not last a full year; it ended approximately four months later, after 3 Purple Hearts and Kerry’s request to leave Vietnam.

When was the second tour?

NOT OBVIOUS

DIVISION PLACEMENTS:

Coastal Flotilla - 1
Boat Squadron - 1Coastal Squadron - 1
PCF Division - 101 (An Thoi)Coastal Division - 11 (An Thoi)
PCF Division - 102 (Danang/Chu Lai)Coastal Division - 12 (Danang/Chu Lai)
PCF Division - 103 (Cat Lo)Coastal Division - 13 (Cat Lo)
PCF Division - 104 (Cam Ranh Bay)Coastal Division - 14 (Cam Ranh Bay)
PCF Division - 105 (Qui Nhon)Coastal Division - 15 (Qui Nhon)


If John Kerry is not trying to fool us, why this:

December 6, 1968 Kerry moved to Coastal Division 11 at An Thoi on Phu Quoc Island.

December 13, 1968 Kerry moved to Coastal Division 13, Cam Rahn Bay.

December 24, 1968 Kerry involved in combat . . .

Coastal Division 13 was Cat Lo, not Cam Rahn Bay.

What is it about Cat Lo that we are not supposed to see?

KERRY'S UNFIT CONCOCTION

Seems the accusations fit the "unfit."

Over 30 paragraphs and only 6 about Kerry:

The President's opponent is an experienced senator. He speaks often of his service in Vietnam, and we honor him for it. But there is also a record of more than three decades since. And on the question of America's role in the world, the differences between Senator Kerry and President Bush are the sharpest, and the stakes for the country are the highest. History has shown that a strong and purposeful America is vital to preserving freedom and keeping us safe — yet time and again Senator Kerry has made the wrong call on national security. Senator Kerry began his political career by saying he would like to see our troops deployed "only at the directive of the United Nations." During the 1980s, Senator Kerry opposed Ronald Reagan's major defense initiatives that brought victory in the Cold War. In 1991, when Saddam Hussein occupied Kuwait and stood poised to dominate the Persian Gulf, Senator Kerry voted against Operation Desert Storm.

Even in this post-9/11 period, Senator Kerry doesn't appear to understand how the world has changed. He talks about leading a "more sensitive war on terror," as though Al Qaeda will be impressed with our softer side. He declared at the Democratic Convention that he will forcefully defend America — after we have been attacked. My fellow Americans, we have already been attacked, and faced with an enemy who seeks the deadliest of weapons to use against us, we cannot wait for the next attack. We must do everything we can to prevent it — and that includes the use of military force.

Senator Kerry denounces American action when other countries don't approve — as if the whole object of our foreign policy were to please a few persistent critics. In fact, in the global war on terror, as in Afghanistan and Iraq, President Bush has brought many allies to our side. But as the President has made very clear, there is a difference between leading a coalition of many, and submitting to the objections of a few. George W. Bush will never seek a permission slip to defend the American people.

Senator Kerry also takes a different view when it comes to supporting our military. Although he voted to authorize force against Saddam Hussein, he then decided he was opposed to the war, and voted against funding for our men and women in the field. He voted against body armor, ammunition, fuel, spare parts, armored vehicles, extra pay for hardship duty, and support for military families. Senator Kerry is campaigning for the position of commander in chief. Yet he does not seem to understand the first obligation of a commander in chief — and that is to support American troops in combat.

In his years in Washington, John Kerry has been one of a hundred votes in the United States Senate — and very fortunately on matters of national security, his views rarely prevailed. But the presidency is an entirely different proposition. A senator can be wrong for 20 years, without consequence to the nation. But a president — a president — always casts the deciding vote. And in this time of challenge, America needs — and America has — a president we can count on to get it right.

On Iraq, Senator Kerry has disagreed with many of his fellow Democrats. But Senator Kerry's liveliest disagreement is with himself. His back-and- forth reflects a habit of indecision, and sends a message of confusion. And it is all part of a pattern. He has, in the last several years, been for the No Child Left Behind Act — and against it. He has spoken in favor of the North American Free Trade Agreement — and against it. He is for the Patriot Act — and against it. Senator Kerry says he sees two Americas. It makes the whole thing mutual — America sees two John Kerrys.

Where does Cheney call Kerry unfit? He did not.

Cheney made a very good case for it--based on Kerry's actions and decisions. Cheney did not call Kerry unfit. John Kerry is the one who recognized the description as "unfit."

The statements were not refuted; Kerry mentioned two tours and Cheney's five deferments as his great rebuttal. It's been all about Vietnam; it's still all about Vietnam.

KERRY CLARITY

One thing is perfectly clear: John Kerry claims to have promoted facing the enemy--directing the full fire of the swift boat by beaching the boat, by advancing regardless of enemy fire power. John Kerry said that he was the ONLY SWIFT BOAT SPEEDING TOWARD PCF-3 (March 13, 1969); actually, he was the only swift boat NOT SPEEDING TOWARD, BUT SPEEDING AWAY.

This much has become clear. If Kerry promoted advancing and beaching; why was he going away? Although some might mutter “cowardice,” one fact is obvious: John Kerry lied; and, John Kerry promoted something which he was not willing to do himself. He turned on his own theory. He didn’t combine his belief with his actions.


Of all the things which are murky, this is perfectly clear about the incident on March 13, 1969: John Kerry didn’t trust in John Kerry.

NAVY INVESTIGATION REQUESTED

Kerry medal complaint reaches Navy secretaryProbe request comes as ex-chief Lehman calls Silver Star citation 'complete mystery'

Art Moore

The request was made by the public interest group Judicial Watch after news reports revealed Kerry's campaign website displays a document listing a "Silver Star with combat 'V'" even though the combat "V" device is never given with the nation's third highest award for heroism.

TRICKS?

Another blogger saw it, too:

PCF-66

August 02, 2004
More: Why Ask Questions?
OK... I've been stewing all day on this

I had seen Kerry listed for PCF-66 at the swiftboats.net site, then it wasn't there. Someone else saw it, too.

[Additional:
Rumor One: That the Navy will be (or is) investigating the information concerning one of the medals. (Bandit at idexer.com)

The document signed by John Lehman could have triggered an investigation. Lehman doesn’t seem to know who, when, (how, or by whom) his signature appears on John Kerry’s third rendition of his citation. This should be cause for an investigation; the Navy should investigate the matter. The citation may disappear from the Kerry website, if it hasn’t already. There aren’t puffs of smoke to signal the “POOF!”; things are just gone. As usual, there is little in the news; and, some of the bloggers are working very hard to get to the truth.

Rumor Two: That John Kerry made more than one trip to Paris—apparently, to visit with enemies. According to Bandit, Newt Gingrich said, slowly and clearly, that there were more trips to Paris.

I heard it, too. I hope someone has valid documentation. Those who are solidly behind Kerry would not believe video of a conference, nor would they confirm it if they had witnessed it. The rest of us are in the dark . . .again.

There are always rumors and some are more interesting than others. I placed the above rumors on the blog because some rumors will gain substance, others will disappear and it is interesting to follow the gossip. Be aware, this is rumor/gossip.

In the rumor/fact category: I posted about the “A cocky feeling of invincibility accompanied us up the Long Tau shipping channel because” entry in Kerry’s journal, and labeled it as rumor. According to the same Bandit (mentioned above) the journal entry appears on page 189, (ToD) and I have verified it. It is there—complete with the phrase “WE HADN’T BEEN SHOT AT YET . . .”]

Anti-Kerry (fair warning)

If you would like to say the Swift Boat Vets were out to sink Kerry’s boat, you’re right. They would not have been able to accomplish it if Kerry were not running for President; they would not have bothered. The Swiftees would not have been able to pull together enough people who wished to spend their time fighting again. Many veterans had experienced enough. But, this is anti-Kerry. It’s all about Kerry’s choices and actions.

When they came back home they wanted a life without fighting, without strife; they wanted to have a normal life, again. They were not seeking public office; they were seeking normal lives. They could have overlooked injustice, if they had known there was injustice. It might have been irritating to see John Kerry campaign and win a Senate Seat. Irritation was not a strong enough reason to compel the average person to toss themselves in front of a camera knowing the press would inspect every molecule of their lives. John Kerry counted on it.

John Kerry was an in-the-face attention-getter. John Kerry propelled himself through the primaries, with the help of his “brother” Rassmann, with the assistance of Vietnam stories; John Kerry’s fame/infamy was, has been, and will be *Vietnam.* You saw it during the Convention, you saw it during the campaign. It’s about Vietnam, and about John Kerry in Vietnam, and about medals.

For the talking heads, the Republican Veterans, John McCain in particular, it is demeaning to discuss a war record in less than glowing terms. Well, John McCain is exempt, he is admired. We knew where he was, and what he was doing, and it was more than unpleasant for him . . .it was painful and it was long; and we are glad he made it back. However, this does not mean we must agree with John McCain; it means we should respect his point of view.

Respecting a point of view does not include a responsibility to see everything as he sees it. Because Kerry and McCain are “friends” does not mean ignoring Kerry’s bid for the highest office, or ignoring Kerry’s record. Because John Kerry’s campaign has been about Vietnam; and, he is reporting for duty; we are obligated to inspect his credentials about Vietnam and his service in the Senate. And, we should not accept a candidate based upon stories and hype; but, accept the reality and truth of a candidate.

As a member of the “Heroes,” John McCain should accept no brother but one who is sincerely and genuinely a Hero of truth, and of fact, and of actions. John McCain should not be so willing to accept a “paper” hero for us. John Kerry was not John McCain’s friend while McCain was a POW; and, John Kerry was not our friend when he performed during the Fulbright Hearing. As much as John McCain’s service is valued, John Kerry’s actions are scorned.

John Kerry was not the hero of the Vietnam War; rather, he was the focus of the media for his anti-war activities. He valued his awards so well that he tossed his medals over the barrier in protest. Whether or not he actually threw his own medals over the barrier, he went through the motions, he gave the impression that he did the deed; and, to say otherwise (later) means he was deceptive, purposely deceiving for all to see. He is the same man now, with some refinements. The refinements are superficial.

He organized protests; he swayed opinion; he spoke the words of Hanoi; he spoke to a representative of the enemy—when he was still in the military or was a private citizen, either way brings up the words “anti-American promoter” or “traitorous activist.” It hurt US; it demoralized US; it weakened US; it betrayed our troops; and, it was there for the world to see, courtesy in large part to John Kerry. The flag was turned upside down on the cover of Kerry’s book—a distress signal. John Kerry helped to smear us with a layer of stench and it has been 30 long years trying to get away from the smell.

During those 30 years we have been subjected to an Al Jazeera-like propaganda, which we did not deserve. During the Vietnam era, we were subjected to shouts of “it’s the oil.” After the war, no one mentioned much about it; seems oil had little or nothing to do with it. Before Gulf War I, it was the oil, again; and yet, we didn’t get it; we don’t own Kuwait or their oil; and the oil-voices stopped shouting. Afghanistan, “no oil for blood”; it’s the oil, it’s the pipeline . . .it was (in fact) just the same shouting, from the same groups . . .it slowed to a murmur. Ah HA! Iraq! “Not in my name” will you get the “oil for blood.” This time, Saddam Hussein pointed out the demonstrators.

Well, it’s been more than 30 years and I’d like to know where the oil is? And, I’d like to know why the John Kerry supporters are saying the same as the enemy—time after time, again and again? And, I’d like to know why we have to be subjected to John Kerry, after all these years? It’s a rhetorical question; I know the reason. We weren’t paying attention.

If Kerry had sought a quiet life, I wouldn’t have crossed the street to say a good word, or a bad word to John Kerry. Now, I consider him the POP-UP CANDIDATE—the nice outfit covers the clown-drag. He’s all dressed up; he’s polished; he popped up; and the humorous part is that the laugh is on US. We weren’t looking.

We are looking now. The photograph of John Kerry at the Fulbright Hearings was more than an eye-opener; it was another Kerry national slap-in-the-face. “Look at me, now! The Candidate for the highest office!” Well, some are saying, "Oh No, not you again!" It is amazing to me that every veteran in this nation does not stand up and turn a collective back to John Kerry. It is astonishing that any POW or veteran would stand shoulder to shoulder with Kerry.

A Kerry supporter just said that the purpose (of the sbvft) is to slime Kerry because Bush and Cheney never went to Vietnam. Almost 60 veterans, honorable medal holders, need to be slimed to save John Kerry from his past. If the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are telling the truth, it wouldn’t slime, it would be fact. If the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth are telling the truth, it would be important for Kerry to make it difficult to believe the Swiftees. He tried that. If they are liars, he could have revealed the rest of the records. Kerry did not; he chose to slime the Swift Vets. Rather than show the records, Kerry chose to stop the Swift Vets.

Rather than address the facts, Kerry chose to hide the documents, change the timeline. John Kerry was a protestor whose symbolic actions of throwing away the medals and whose associations with flag-burners (and with our enemies) have shown US what he thinks of this country. John Kerry’s reluctance to let the truth come out; Kerry’s preoccupation with silencing the Swift Boaters; Kerry’s brothers calling Swiftees liars; all of this, demonstrates Kerry’s opinion of the truth. Apparently we don’t need it; and if John Kerry has a choice, we aren’t going to get it.

Q. When is it better to silence the opposition?
A. When you can’t afford to let the truth come out.

Net, News, and Note

Adam wrote:

Regardless of the veracity of individual charges made by the Swift Boat Veterans from Truth, there is one single and utterly verifiable fact which convincingly proves their overall case that John Kerry is unfit for command. To put it simply: John Kerry’s actions in supporting our enemies during the Vietnam War constitute a betrayal of the nation and its warriors that is simply unforgivable, either in this life or the next. As much as any other single individual, John Forbes Kerry contributed to the ultimate defeat in the Vietnam War.(…)

The woodwork began to rattle and out they came . . .in attack mode. The mobile minions with the sharp teeth start to gnaw away at Adam’s words. John Kerry should have produced the records. He seems to be stunned speechless.

SILVER STAR:
According to one of the blogs, Kerry may not have a choice. There is a rumor that the Navy may investigate the Silver Star Citation.

HEWITT and the CAPTAIN:
The Captain (of Captainsquartersblog.com) is at the Republican Convention; Hugh Hewitt is there, too. Even Democrats are watching the convention . . . for ammo.

MEDIA LIES:
http://antimedia.blogspot.com Antimedia has a number of interesting items today, complete with links and comments.

[NOTE: Finally received the “Unfit” book—which is why I’ve blogged less and have been reading more.]

Kerry Cartoon

Kerry has had shots across the bow; shrapnel in the stern. And now, his own cartoon:

CARTOON HERE


Thanks to: antimedia

JOHN'S BOAT LIST

As the facts slowly immerge from the political swamp, there is an effort to pull them back into obscurity. Documents which were at Kerry’s website have disappeared, and timelines were changed—items deleted. Pages were blocked. Pages were missing. Information was put up and pulled off.

One of the difficulties was the description of the action on January 29, 1969. PCF-94 was in the action; the reference was “Kerry’s boat” but it was not Kerry’s boat at the time. The Officer-in-Charge was Edward “Tedd” Peck, who was wounded. It was a lie of omission. It was not accidental. The purpose was to “trump up” Kerry’s service. It was deceptive; it wasn’t accidental; and, Kerry knew he wasn’t on PCF-94, commanding the action at that time. It was deleted. It was deceptive. That’s a problem.

John Kerry is not Bob Kerrey; but somehow, John was credited with Bob’s record on the Intelligence Committee. A simple mistake of the spelling of “Kerry”, it confuses people that the names are so similar. But, the campaign staff should have known that “Bob” is not “John.” They were not thorough. And, John should know that he is not Bob; certainly Bob knows he is not John. It may be confusing because John does not know who John is—even though he has had over sixty years to find out who John is. If John Kerry does not know who he is, we can’t help him; because we don’t know who the real John Kerry is.

It was an advantage to absorb Bob Kerrey into the John Kerry record. The mistake has been corrected, but it leaves a bad taste. It’s particularly distasteful after the January, 1969 Peck/PCF-94/Kerry’s boat fiasco.

THE NEW SOLDIER (Free ebook)

THE NEW SOLDIER, by John Kerry

Someone made it an ebook. Apparently it is a free download or printable provided by a concerned citizen. I’ve heard the book is no longer in print, that it would not be reprinted.

Get it while you can:

HERE

and

HERE

SWIFTLY SINKING

In another flashcard displayed before the watching eyes: The Chicago SunTimes has an article stating that John Lehman didn’t know about the document with his signature, didn’t sign it, didn’t see it, wasn’t the author of the wording. It’s a 2,000,000 lb. weight dropped onto a dinghy. Swift Boat PCF-94 may be sinking with Kerry aboard.

Chicago SunTimes

Kerry citation a 'total mystery' to ex-Navy chief
August 28, 2004
BY THOMAS LIPSCOMB

Former Navy Secretary John Lehman has no idea where a Silver Star citation displayed on Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry's campaign Web site came from, he said Friday. The citation appears over Lehman's signature.

"It is a total mystery to me. I never saw it. I never signed it. I never approved it. And the additional language it contains was not written by me," he said.

[COMMENT: If this is a mystery document, who would have created it, who could have created it? There are sounds that you can almost hear….the collective Democrats’ gasps, some Swiftees’ sighs.]

ANOTHER WOUND, KERRY?

[Tour of Duty, pages 328, 329:
Kerry left the area, spent a few days, 5-6; called Sanders, and Barker; caught a flight to Tacoma, WA; then a commercial flight to San Francisco—spent one night there;]
“then flew back to see Julia in New York.”

When John Kerry finally landed at Kennedy Airport in New York he was greeted by an ecstatic Julia Thorne. “I went to pick him up,” she recalled. “It was a packed airport, [but] in those days you could go to the gate. People were pouring off the plane in Hawaiian shirts and leis, some seemed drunk on mai tais.

[same paragraph…separated for emphasis]
Then, emerging from the crowd in his dress blues and his white hat, came John Kerry. He was bandaged, some of it was sticking out, and nobody was paying attention to him . . .”

Bandaged from what?? At the end of his last mission, he said, “All in all, it had been a long and profitless night but no shots had been fired and it was better to be tired than dead.”

The last known injury seems to have been the Rice ASSault. That injury should have healed. If it hadn’t healed, would anyone see the bandage . . .on his rump?

How did John Kerry get the purported wound, this time? Was it even a wound?

BLACKFIVE found today’s (Wall Street Journal) article:

We're Not GOP Shills

President Bush can't stop us from telling the truth about John Kerry.
BY JOHN O'NEILL
Friday, August 27, 2004 12:01 a.m. EDT

Kerry’s campaign has done so much spinning that it’s (now) spinning in place--forming a vortex. The Swift Boat attack strategy is sinking Kerry’s boat.

Boats for Truth has blown away the stern, put holes in the bow, and they are attacking the mask (oh sorry, that’s MAST, isn’t it?)

REDHUNTER'S SALADBOWL

Redhunter has been very busy putting together a salad of information--combining many interesting topics:

A letter from a soldier in Iraq.

Tommy Franks.

Links to the “Unfit” excerpts.

Redhunter has been very busy!

CHRISTMAS IN CAMBODIA (s)

.
December, 1968:

Drudge mentions Kerry on the Senate floor in 1986 and quotes from O'Neill's book (which apparently contains Kerry's words):

"I remember Christmas of 1968 sitting on a gunboat in Cambodia. I remember what it was like to be shot at by the Vietnamese and Khmer Rouge and Cambodians, and have the president of the United States telling the American people that I was not there; the troops were not in Cambodia. I have that memory which is seared--seared--in me."

freep quotes the Boston Herald coverage:

"I remember spending Christmas Eve of 1968 five miles across the Cambodian border being shot at by our South Vietnamese allies who were drunk and celebrating Christmas. The absurdity of almost being killed by our own allies in a country in which President Nixon claimed there were no American troops was very real."

O'Neill's book refutes this with:

Nixon wasn't in office.

Kerry ". . .was more than fifty miles away from Cambodia. Kerry was never ordered into Cambodia by anyone and would have been court-martialed had he gone there."

Free Republic says:

The authors say the Cambodia incursion story is not included in Douglas Brinkley's "Tour of Duty." Instead, Kerry told of a mortar attack on Christmas Eve 1968 "near the Cambodia border" in Sa Dec.

World Net Daily says:

"On the floor of the U.S. Senate, March 27, 1986, for example, Kerry attacked President Reagan's actions in Central America, charging they were leading the United States into another Vietnam. He claimed he could recognize the adminstration's errors because he had firsthand knowledge that the Nixon administration lied about American incursions into Cambodia."

And so, the arguments continue.

[Note: Nixon was elected in 1968, sworn 1969. Did President-Elect Nixon make a speech? If so, did he mention Cambodia?]

[ADDITIONAL, 8/26/04]

Diary refutes Kerry claim

By Stephen Dinan and Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published August 25, 2004

(…)A journal entry Mr. Kerry wrote Dec. 11, however, raises questions about what really happened nine days earlier.

"A cocky feeling of invincibility accompanied us up the Long Tau shipping channel because we hadn't been shot at yet, and Americans at war who haven't been shot at are allowed to be cocky," wrote Mr. Kerry, according the book "Tour of Duty" by friendly biographer Douglas Brinkley.

(…)A Kerry campaign official, speaking on background, told The Washington Times yesterday that the "we" in the passage from Mr. Kerry's journal refers to "the crew on Kerry's first swift boat, operating as a crew" rather than Mr. Kerry himself.

"John Kerry didn't yet have his own boat or crew on December 2," according to the aide. "Other members of the crew had been in Vietnam for some time and had been shot at and Kerry knew that at the time. However, the crew had not yet been fired on while they served together on PCF 44 under Lieutenant Kerry."

[COMMENT: The defense of the quote isn't credible, believable. Or, you could just say that I don't believe it. Tedd Peck said that Se Dac was the outer perimeter for Kerry's duty area at that time. The "Christmas in Cambodia" incident would have seemed more credible if Kerry had been at An Thoi, but he didn't get there (again) until January. "Christmas in Cambodia" did not happen. It's for the reader to decide between lie and embellishment; for me, it fits the "lie test."

[NOTE: Originally titled "A Kerry Christmas", brought forward and titled "Christmas in Cambodia" in order to list in sequence at right links.]

BARRY BOGART (s)

One Barry Bogart was listed as interviewed for ToD [p66]; and the Barry Bogart (below) was at An Thoi, as a diesel mechanic and gunner on a SWIFT BOAT AT AN THOI.

Salina Journal


The nonbeliever
Salinan questions Kerry's war 'fantasies'
By DAVID CLOUSTON Salina Journal

After 36 years, the U.S. flag is a bit tattered, a bit soiled, with a hint of gamey odor.

Salinan Barry Bogart snatched it as a souvenir after it flew aboard PCF-78 (patrol craft fast), as a reminder of his days as a diesel mechanic and gunner on a Swift boat at An Thoi, Vietnam.

[NOTE: Bogart is listed as a person interviewed; not listed in the index—as included in the book; and, nothing about him seemed to be included within the book. Why was he interviewed; what was left out?]

ALFRED FRENCH (s)

Alfred French was an Ensign in Coastal 11, An Thoi. Apparently he wasn’t on any of the mission in question. His knowledge would come from hearing information around the area, and from his friends.

No, his information would not hold up in a court of law. Yes, either side of the controversy would use him, if he overheard something important.

VOLUNTEER MYTHE

John Kerry volunteered. Yes, he did--and so did half the (draft-age) nation. There were not huge hoards of 18-23 year-olds taking trains, planes, and buses to Canada. If you remember, there were huge hoards of the draft-age group checking their numbers, calculating the odds. You had a good idea when your “number was up.”

It wasn’t the same as WWII, after Pearl Harbor; Vietnam was “if ya gotta go, ya gotta go.” If your country called, you would serve. Few went to Canada, few ran to sign up, most waited to see—like watching the roulette wheel spin. Was it your turn?

[ToD p60]
“Without question, the draft was on the minds of all high school and college seniors in 1965-66. As the need for more soldiers to serve in Viet-nam rose, the Selective Service System was tapping an unprecedented 30,000 draftees a month. Graduation meant the end of a young man’s educational deferment, and other deferments were harder to obtain. Some men paid a draft counselor or attorney for advice—a popular slogan that year was “If you got the dough, you don’t have to go”—and others applied to graduate school. Recognizing the changing nature of the draft, Kerry signed up in late 1965 for the U.S. Navy, with actual enlistment to come after graduation the following spring. As his last year at Yale passed, he was forced to live with that decision.”

[ToD p63]
”On his flight to Boston, Kerry realized he had crossed on of those life-changing Rubicons he had read about at St. Paul’s School. He was unset-tled but excited about what lay before him, and something in him warmed at the notion that when he came to his fork in the road he had shown the in-dependence to opt for the path not taken by most Ivy Leaguers his age: Viet-nam. As a child of considerable privilege he could certainly have gone for the easy out, be it joining the National Guard, getting married, or asking a well-placed family friend to finagle him a draft deferment. Although he never considered it, he could even have proclaimed himself a conscientious objector, fled to Canada, or found Quakerism. Instead he had done the honorable thing and enlisted in the Navy, and he was proud of it. While his college friends were still partying at the wedding reception, he was headed back to Boston, where he would quickly pack and drive to Officer Candi- date School in Newport, Rhode Island.”

[ToD p64]
“(…)We just all thought that was the right thing to do. President Kennedy has called on our generation to ‘pay any price’ for global freedom, so duty dictated that we enlist.”

[JFK2, p50]
“As graduation approached, Kerry believed he had three choices: be drafted, seek a deferment for graduate school, or join up and position himself to become an officer. ‘I called [the draft board] because I was thinking one of the options was, maybe I’ll go study abroad, which was a euphemism for screwing around a bit, but it was clear to me that I was going to be at risk. My draft board . . .said, ‘Look, the likelihood is you are probably going to be drafted.’ I said, ‘If I’m going to be drafted, I’d like to have responsibility and be an officer.”



[COMMENT: Neither condemning, nor praising, I’m saying this was the way it was. It wasn’t the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, or 9/11. It was a gradual, growing, in the back-of-your-mind, probable date with destiny. “Volunteering” was appreciated, but not outstanding. That was the way it was in the ‘60s. Outstanding was: once having been in the thick of battle, the choice to go again.......was outstanding.]

THAT COCKY FEELING (s)

Diary refutes Kerry claim

By Stephen Dinan and Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published August 25, 2004

(…)A journal entry Mr. Kerry wrote Dec. 11, however, raises questions about what really happened nine days earlier.

"A cocky feeling of invincibility accompanied us up the Long Tau shipping channel because we hadn't been shot at yet, and Americans at war who haven't been shot at are allowed to be cocky," wrote Mr. Kerry, according the book "Tour of Duty" by friendly biographer Douglas Brinkley.

(…)A Kerry campaign official, speaking on background, told The Washington Times yesterday that the "we" in the passage from Mr. Kerry's journal refers to "the crew on Kerry's first swift boat, operating as a crew" rather than Mr. Kerry himself.

"John Kerry didn't yet have his own boat or crew on December 2," according to the aide. "Other members of the crew had been in Vietnam for some time and had been shot at and Kerry knew that at the time. However, the crew had not yet been fired on while they served together on PCF 44 under Lieutenant Kerry."

Thanks to: Media Lies

[COMMENT: “We” are shocked . . .absolutely shocked. “We” cannot understand how “we” could have mistaken the cockiness. Or…….possibly Kerry was using the ROYAL “WE” and he really meant “I.” Sorry, Kerry supporters will believe it; many swing-voters will not believe it.

Further, the question was did the quote exists. If the quote had not existed, that would be the defense—that the quote was erroneous. When the Kerry campaign explains the quote, they are confirming the quote. And, the quote is a “killer.” ]

Once again, (bold for emphasis): "A cocky feeling of invincibility accompanied us up the Long Tau shipping channel because we hadn't been shot at yet, and Americans at war who haven't been shot at are allowed to be cocky," wrote Mr. Kerry, according the book "Tour of Duty" by friendly biographer Douglas Brinkley.


[NOTE: copy will be placed in appropriate section.]

[Also, the actual quote appears on page 189, ToD.]

LEGAL ADVICE & GLUE (s)

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Reuters

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - A top lawyer for President Bush's re-election campaign, Benjamin Ginsberg, resigned on Wednesday after disclosing he provided legal advice to the group that has accused Democrat John Kerry of lying about his Vietnam record.

[Comment: Apparently, Reuters didn’t notice the connections between lawyers, the DNC, the 527s for Kerry--just the normal, daily, little “bit-o” bias for the readers.]

"I have decided to resign as national counsel to your campaign to ensure that the giving of legal advice to decorated military veterans, which was entirely within the boundaries of the law, doesn't distract from the real issues upon which you and the country should be focusing," Ginsberg wrote in a letter to President Bush.

[More Comments: Cheers, Ginsberg! The Swiftees will need you. Did I hear Kerry bought approx. 250 bottles of Super Glue; it was more, but he put 2 bottles of glue back on the shelf? (Wonder what he wants to do with that.)]

[Note: Thanks to Hugh Hewitt. See his blog today. Cleland comments (here) were made before reading Hewitt; but, thanks for the link to the Reuters (above.)]

CLELAND TO TEXAS

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Sending Max Cleland to Texas--the questions:

Who could question sending Max Cleland to Texas?

It’s a terrific idea in the political intramural war. No one would dare speak out against a triple-amputee, Veteran and Politician.

Send Cleland with a letter to Bush requesting that he stop the other veterans from their free speech; a marvelous idea . . .or, is it?

Who thought of this one, Kerry . . .or, Rove?

RASSMANN (s)

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JFK2:BG p105:

(Paragraph 2)“One day he walked into a club and found Kerry sitting there, having a beer, and the two men quickly hit it off. For the next month, they hung out together and went on at least one mission together, during which Rassmann saw a fellow officer nearly lose his eye as a result of enemy fire.”

(Paragraph 4)“On the morning of March 13, 1969, Rassman was on a swift boat, following Kerry’s craft, as they headed up the Bai Hap River. The horrors began early that day. (…)


106:“The flotilla of approximately five swift boats was cruising along a narrow canal, with Kerry’s boat toward the front, when a mine detonated, throwing one of the crafts two feet into the air and knocking out its engine. In the swift boat behind it, Rassmann was eating a chocolate chip cookie in the pilothouse when his craft was also rocked by an explosion.”

BRINKLEYp314---PCF 3: “Right where they had been hit on the earlier mission, a mine went off directly beneath PCF-3 just off Kerry’s port side.”PCF 35: “At that instant, Army Lieutenant Jim Rassmann, who was on PCF-35, was blown overboard, although nobody knew it.”

[COMMENTS:
It’s unlikely that Rassman was on PCF-3 as he would have been within reach when the other boats clustered around PCF-3 to rescue the crew. It has been established (fairly well) that Kerry (in PCF-94) went downstream, turned back, then rescued Rassmann.

All agree that Rassmann went into the water, and that Kerry fished him out—no disagreement on that. “On the morning of March 13, 1969, Rassman was on a swift boat, following Kerry’s craft, as they headed up the Bai Hap River.” It would be intelligent to remain on the same boat throughout the mission (but there might be reasons to change boats.)

We can depend on Rassmann’s statements only as much as you would depend (in court) upon a mother’s testimony concerning her son. Kerry rescued Rassmann; there is a huge amount of gratitude that results from the rescue. Did Kerry save Rassmann’s life? Probably not, but don’t try to tell that to someone who is desperate—they won’t listen. Others who had seen Rassmann were on their way to rescue him and Kerry was there first.

Kerry and Rassmann had formed a bond; then Kerry rescued Rassmann; and, although Rassmann may feel he is giving objective statements, it is difficult to maintain objectivity when you believe someone saved your life—most of us could not be objective because it is a human condition to value and support the guy who “saved” you. Therefore, Rassmann’s statements may not carry as much weight.

In addition, there has been confusion concerning where Rassmann was at the time he went into the water, and on which boat; he doesn’t seem able to clear this up. There are indications that Rassmann was on 35-boat; but, there doesn’t seem to be a 35-boat. The number could have been transposed from 53; but, there doesn’t seem to be a 53-boat in the action.

Page 300 (ToD) states: “By March 12, 1969, Thurlow was off Vietnamese teaching duty and *back* in command of *PCF-53, which was to participate in Mission 97 along with Lieutenants Droz, Kerry, and Bill Rood.” Was there a mistake and Thurlow was actually *back* on *PCF 51? Or, is the mistake in the after-action report of 3/13—is that supposed to be 53?

More information is revealed each day, and those who believe that we will never know the truth are destined to be stuck with a decision made before all the facts are in. Jurors seldom decide before they hear the evidence; and, although this is the court of public opinion, it is wise to hear the arguments.]

WP 3/13 GRAPHIC (s)

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(Washington Post 3/13 GRAPHIC)

There was a graphic on the Washington Post site yesterday (8/22/04) showing the action of March 13, according to “sources: U.S. Navy archives; staff reports” and “Graphic by Gene Thorp, Lou Spirito and Chris Kirkman—The Washington Post.” Right or Wrong, the graphic displayed a blowup of the area, a depiction of the scene, positions on PCF 94, and included which boats were there and who was OinC for each.

Well, I can’t find it now; hope you saved it. It was a good one!

WP Listed:

PCF-94
Kerry
*Del Sandusky
*Michael Medioros
*Eugene Thorson
*Tom Belodeau d.1997
*Fred Short/Alston?--no records to indicate he had recovered/

PCF-43
Droz
*Wayne Langhoffer (per Rood: w/Droz when Droz KIA 4/12)

PCF-3
Pees
*Kenneth Tryner
*Earl Hollister
*Leslie Vorphal
*GMG3 Wolfe
*EN3? Arp

PCF-23 (***previously Rood's boat until 3/12 eye injury)
Chenoweth

PCF-51 (**or 53?)
Thurlow

***Likely Chenoweth took over Rood's PCF-23 because Rood was not recoved by 3/13.

**There was an earlier reference to Thurlow on PCF-53, it will continue to be listed as PCF-51 (or 53) until more information is obtained.

*Preliminary crew members added into the mix.

[NOTE: This March 13 mission is temporarily named "Mission 98." March 12 is "Mission 97" according to ToD page 300.]

RICE ASSAULT 2 (s)

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JFK2:BG p105, 106 (top):

(Paragraph 2)“One day he walked into a club and found Kerry sitting there, having a beer, and the two men quickly hit it off. For the next month, they hung out together and went on at least one mission together, during which Rassmann saw a fellow officer nearly lose his eye as a result of enemy fire.”

(Paragraph 3)“At one point, Kerry and Rassmann threw grenades into a huge rice cache that had been captured from the Vietcong and was thus slated for destruction. After tossing the grenades, the two dove for cover. Rassman escaped the ensuing explosion of rice, but Kerry was not as lucky—thousands of grains stuck to him. The result was hilarious, and the two men formed a bond.”

(Paragraph 4)“On the morning of March 13, 1969, Rassman was on a swift boat, following Kerry’s craft, as they headed up the Bai Hap River. The horrors began early that day. A rocket attack killed a Chinese mercenary who was traveling with Rassman. ‘He was literally blown to pieces.’ Rassmann [page 106—top] recalled. ‘We bugged out of there with the remains under fire.’ But the action had only begun.”

[COMMENT: Paragraph 3 describes a “rice cache” incident, very similar to the one described below--brought forward from RICE ASSAULT(1). The paragraph is between Rassmann having seen a “fellow officer nearly lose his eye” and “On the morning of March 13, 1969 . . .” (Three paragraphs in a row on page 105 indicate the sequence of events—Rood’s eye, Rice cache, and then the morning of the 13th.)

There may be later claims of error, but the Boston Globe biographers put it together from interviews with eyewitnesses (they placed the incidents eye, rice, and March 13 in 1,2,3-sequence ) and/or Kerry’s journal (as did Brinkley) and Kerry cooperated. The incident concerning Rood’s eye was March 12, which puts the “rice cache” in that timeframe, and it was followed by the paragraph beginning “On the morning of March 13.” See Kerry’s comments below, in what is now called “Rice Assault 1 :]



Rice ASSault (1): (brought forward)

[Ref: ToD p313]
“I got a piece of small grenade in my ass from one of the rice-bin explosions and then we started to move back to the boats, firing to our rear as we went,” Kerry related. “Once on the boats we moved full speed out of the zone, as we had been there for a dangerously long time now and the chance of something greeting us on exit was pretty good. My eyes still smarted and my throat was dry because Miggins had let off a gas grenade into a hooch and the wind had shifted and blown it down on us. I don’t know how one of us wasn’t shot by his own men when I consider how randomly we had been walking around in there—shooting and blowing things up.”[Location: Dong Cung Canal] [Date Ref: p303—March 13 possibly March 12?]


[COMMENT: This is an important passage in Brinkley’s book—Kerry’s quotes. The rice-bin was being destroyed. Who were throwing the grenades? If Kerry, the injury was self-inflicted; and no, that doesn’t mean he purposely “shot himself in the foot.” It means through his own actions, unrelated to enemy fire, Kerry was responsible for causing the resulting injury to himself.

That is the problem. He was close enough to get “riced” all over. (Picture a minor injury from smoking a cigarette in a dynamite shack—no Purple Heart, and you’re lucky you are alive. Picture tossing grenades into the rice-bin; and, like the potato chip commercial, you might not be able to stop with one----or, let only one person toss a single grenade.)]

11:42 PM

[UPDATE COMMENT: It looks like Kerry injured himself by tossing grenades into the rice cache and he seems to admit it. So far, the rice incident is narrowed-down to Mar. 12-13. Bold is mine, used for emphasis.]

ROOD'S EYE (s)

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Washington Post

In some ways, it was a day like any other. The previous day, Kerry had taken part in a Swift boat expedition that had come under fire, and several windows of Kerry's boat were blown out. A friend, Lt. j.g. William B. Rood, almost lost an eye in the ambush. [Now an editor with the Chicago Tribune, Rood yesterday broke three decades of public silence to support Kerry's version of how he won the Silver Star on Feb. 28. Rood has no firsthand knowledge of the Bronze Star incident.]

[COMMENT: Rood’s eye incident was March 12, 1969 according to: Washington Post (“previous day”—day before Bronze Star Incident); ToD page 300—which begins the sequence “By March 12, . . .” and describes Rood’s Eye on page 301; and, the sequence in JFK;BG page 105 (the 3 paragraphs.)]

FEBRUARY 28, 1969 (s)

.
ACCORING TO According to William ROOD:

On Feb. 28, 1969, there were 3 Swift Boats with 3 Officers, and 15 crew.

(Latest Preliminary List--brought forward again)
PCF-94----
John F. Kerry (LTJG)
Eugene Thorson
Frederic Short (Temp. replacement—JFK, Boston Globe, p99)
Delbert Sandusky
Michael Mederioros
Tom Belodeau d.1997
Charles Gibson (1 wk indoctrination) [Ref: JFK, Boston Globe,p103]
David Alston (Temp. replaced by Fred Short—JFK, Boston Globe, p99)

PCF-23----
William B. Rood (LTJG)
Jerry Leeds PO [KS]
Richard Lamberson [2nd mil.career]
Larry Lee (bow) M-60 [KY]
Kenneth Martin (tub).50-cal.
Benjamin Cueva (aft-gun mount) Engineman
[The above is list for PCF-23—according to Rood]

PCF-43----
Donald Droz (LTJG)
Wayne Langhoffer (aboard 4/12)—incl. in Rood’s Letter

WILLIAM ROOD (s)

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ROOD

There are several items at the Chicago Tribune’s site (8/22): 2 articles about Rood, a copy of ROOD’s CITATION, an explanation of medals, Plus a video of Tribune’s Jim O’Shea on why Rood broke his silence.

The site requires registration, but it’s free.

William Rood was involved in the action of 2/28/69. In ToD, there is reference to Rood’s (possible) eye injury during action between and including 2/28-3/13. (Have not found information on the result of an injury. There was no reference in the CITATION concerning an injury.)

[COMMENT: Reports and Citations seem hyped; however, in trying to get to the truth of who did what, where, when, it must be said that the service of the individual Navy personnel is appreciated and we thank you for it.

This is about a man who is a Presidential Candidate and is running on his war record. It is wise to know what the actual record was, what the man did while in Vietnam--in order to determine the character of the person who could be the next President.

War is foggy and, sometimes, seeing the truth is difficult through the fog.]

FEBRUARY 20, 1969 (s)

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[Ref: JFK,BOSTON GLOBE p95:]

On February 20, 1969, six swift boats, including one skip-pered by Kerry, were cruising down the Dam Doi River in South Vietnam. Sailors aboard one or more of the swift boats—the naval report doesn’t specify—started shooting at “targets of opportunity,” meaning suspected Vietcong buildings and boats.

Suddenly, a crew member on Kerry’s boat spotted three suspected Vietcong wearing traditional black garb on the port side. Kerry’s crew came under intense automatic-weapon and rocket fire. Thorson was hit, suffering shrapnel wounds in the right arm. Kerry was also hit by shrapnel in his left thigh, an injury that would merit a second Purple Heart. He was treated on an offshore ship and returned to duty hours later.

[(Also, February 20, 1969. ToD p287:]

Just as they moved out onto the Cua Lon, at a junction known for unfriendliness in the past, kaboom! PCF-94 had taken a rocket-propelled grenade round off the port side, fired at them from the far bank. Kerry felt a piece of hot shrapnel bore into his left leg. With blood running down the deck, the Swift managed to make an otherwise uneventful exit into the Gulf of Thailand, where they rendezvoused with a Coast Guard Cutter. The injury Kerry suffered in that action on February 20 earned him his second Purple Heart—and thus the second third of his ticket out of Vietnam (although not an ironclad rule, it was standard operating procedure for any U.S. serviceman who received three Purple Hearts to be moved out of the combat zone into a softer desk job.)

[ADDITIONAL: ToD p288-289, describes a personal log by Michael Medeiros, “between Febr-uary 8 and March 13” for “missions 81 through 98” and mentions (p289) “Mission 91 on February 28 stands out.” (p288) “All eighteen of these outings . . .”]

[COMMENTS: On (ToD) p286, beginning with “When they finally reached the tiny, dilapidated outpost . . . “They were all so malnourished,” Del Sandusky recalled. “Obesity was not the problem. They made us feel guilty leaving because they were clearly starv-ing.

Is this the same location described in JFK (Boston Globe) book (p95) as: “Afterward, a navy reporter challenged the decision of unnamed skippers to fire at other “targets of opportunity” in the area and suggested that “psychological operations” to win the hearts and minds of villagers—a “psyop” in mili-tary parlance—might have been more effective.”

(Next paragraph) “Area seemed extremely prosperous and open to psyops action, minimum number of defensive and no offensive bunkers detected,” the report said. The naval official who (p96) wrote the report concluded: “Future missions in this area should be oriented toward psyops rather than destruction.”

(Followed by the next paragraph) The destruction included forty sampans, ten hooches (a type of Vietnamese hut), three bunkers, and 5,000 pounds of rice. The crews had expended more than 14,000 rounds of .50-caliber ammunition. No enemy casualties were reported.

And then it states that “Kerry dismissed the report’s questioning of firing at targets of opportunity.”

Hmmmm.]

RICE ASSAULT, or (s)

.

Rice ASSault:

[Ref: ToD p313]
“I got a piece of small grenade in my ass from one of the rice-bin explosions and then we started to move back to the boats, firing to our rear as we went,” Kerry related. “Once on the boats we moved full speed out of the zone, as we had been there for a dangerously long time now and the chance of something greeting us on exit was pretty good. My eyes still smarted and my throat was dry because Miggins had let off a gas grenade into a hooch and the wind had shifted and blown it down on us. I don’t know how one of us wasn’t shot by his own men when I consider how randomly we had been walking around in there—shooting and blowing things up.”[Location: Dong Cung Canal] [Date Ref: p303—March 13]

[COMMENT: This is an important passage in Brinkley’s book—Kerry’s quotes. The rice-bin was being destroyed. Who were throwing the grenades? If Kerry, the injury was self-inflicted; and no, that doesn’t mean he purposely “shot himself in the foot.” It means through his own actions, unrelated to enemy fire, Kerry was responsible for causing the resulting injury to himself.

That is the problem. He was close enough to get “riced” all over. (Picture a minor injury from smoking a cigarette in a dynamite shack—no Purple Heart, and you’re lucky you are alive. Picture tossing grenades into the rice-bin; and, like the potato chip commercial, you might not be able to stop with one----or, let only one person toss a single grenade.)]

IN THE MILITARY

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Mosul's cbftw (right link) is reading and getting plenty of exercise checking cars; Kommentariat (right link) is experiencing England.


Dave at Greenside might like to trade with cbftw or Kommentariat, but says:

"There are Marines who exit friendly lines everyday and commit acts of untold bravery that would inspire you as much as they humble me."

DAGGERJAG is working on Article 32 & 15 hearings. For those who have watched “JAG” (on TV) it’s easier to understand the job.


[COMMENT: We could not do what we do . . . without you; we are thankful for your service. Spread the word to all our soldiers. A HUGE BEAR-HUG (after shyly looking around to see if anyone's watching) and . . .Thank you! ]

"SWIFTEE JUSTICE" by MM

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http://www.michellemalkin.com/
Michelle Malkin [Noticed these sites:] · August 19, 2004 07:32 AM

The blogosphere has been teeming with great stuff on the Swift Boat Veterans, Kerry's Vietnam War record, and related matters. A few that stand out:

Captain's Quarters. Ed Morrissey raised questions about Kerry's first Purple Heart claims and the Washington Times editorial board picked up on the angle, asking "Was Kerry in combat on Dec. 2, 1968?"

Power Line. John Hinderaker and Scott Johnson penned a fantastic piece for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "Unwrapping Kerry's story of Christmas in Cambodia." Read about the reaction to the piece and follow-up here.

Prestopundit. Wall-to-wall-coverage of Kerry in Cambodia.
Patterico's Pontifications. Dogging the LA Times.

Hugh Hewitt at The Weekly Standard online has questions for Doug Brinkley.

Meanwhile, it looks like the Snopes entry on the Swift Boat Vets needs updating.

[COMMENT: Snopes isn’t current on the Swift controversy. Too bad, they have done well on other things.]

Cambodian Version (poem)

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‘Twas the Night Before Christmas
(Cambodian Version)
by Russ Vaughn (Vietnam ’65-’66)

The rest is at HORSEFEATHERS

I keep it tucked here, in this leather brief case,
Just sharing with the press its secretive place
As I regale them again with my senate refrain,
That Christmas in Cambodia is seared into my brain.

Don’t bother to quibble with history my friend,
By pointing out Johnson was President then.
Don’t listen to Swiftees who try to explain,
For I tell you that night is seared into my brain.

Thanks to: Kommentariat

SEALS & SWIFT by FROGGY

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FROGGYRUMINATIONS

Waterborne infiltrations done illegally into a "neutral" country if performed would be done by small groups of operators (less than 8), at night, in a small tributary, by a boat with a very shallow draft and jacuzzi, not propeller drive. To do otherwise, would be ridiculous.

via Hugh Hewitt


[Does it get better than a Seal telling us about the seals and the swift boats? Froggy seems surrounded by the Seal Society. Great new blogger! High ten, Froggy—you’re too good for the ordinary “high five!”]

MARCH 13, 1969 (s)

JOHN F. KERRY (Boston Globe) p105, 106—

105:
“On the morning of March 13, 1969, Rassmann was on a swift boat, following Kerry’s craft, as they headed up the Bai Hap River”.

106:
“The flotilla of approximately five swift boats was cruising along a narrow canal, with Kerry’s boat toward the front, when a mine detonated, throwing one of the crafts two feet into the air and knocking out its engine. In the swift boat behind it, Rassmann was eating a chocolate chip cookie in the pilothouse when his craft was also rocked by an explosion.”


BRINKLEYp314---

PCF 3: “Right where they had been hit on the earlier mission, a mine went off directly beneath PCF-3 just off Kerry’s port side.”

PCF 35: “At that instant, Army Lieutenant Jim Rassmann, who was on PCF-35, was blown overboard, although nobody knew it.”

PCF 51: “Larry Thurlow had maneuvered his PCF-51 over by this time, and he hopped aboard PCF-3 to offer assistance.”
Or PCF 53 (p300): “By March 12, 1969, Thurlow was off Vietnamese teaching duty and back in command of PCF-53, which was to participating in Mission 97 along with Lieutenants Droz, Kerry, and Bill Rood.” (Note: There is additional information about Mission 97, including the injury of Rood.)


Brinkleyp315—

PCF 94: “PCF-94 then moved in and attached a line to the wounded boat’s stern to try to tow PCF-3 out, but the tether snapped.”

[Brought forward]
Ref.--TOUR of DUTY, p317:3/12 BRONZE STAR KERRY DATA--

(…)(An Xuyen Province, Republic of Vietnam, on 13 March 1969, Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY was serving as an Officer-in-Charge of Inshore Patrol Craft 94, one of fie boats conducting a SEA LORDS operation in the Bay Hap River. While exiting the river, a mine detonated under another Inshore Patrol Craft and almost simultaneously, another mine detonated wounding Lieutenant (junior grade) in the right arm. In addition, all units began receiving small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks. When Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY discovered he had a man overboard, he returned upriver to assist. The man in the water was receiving sniper fire from both banks. Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY directed his gunners to provide suppressing fire, while from an exposed position on the bow, his arm bleeding and in pain and with disregard for his personal safety, he pulled the man aboard. Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY’s calmness, professionalism and great personal courage under fire were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.(…)

FROM O'NEILL'S LETTER TO STATION MANAGERS:
"Each of these boat officers operated directly with John Kerry on numerous occasions. Van Odell (Exhibit 6) is a retired Navy enlisted man who also served in Coastal Division 11 on the Chenoweth boat, a few yards from John Kerry during Kerry's March 13, 1969 Bronze Star action."

ADD:
PCF XX:
JOHN CHENOWETH
VAN ODELL



[Bold--Emphasis mine. Is it possible to figure out who else was there, were there other boats. If John “Jack” Chenoweth was there, where was he? If Van O’Dell was there, where was he?]

---

PARTIAL PRELIMINARY CREW LISTS:

PCF 3:
Richard Pees LTJG
Kenneth Tryner (training?)
Earl Hollister GMG3
Leslie Vorphal RD3
X Wolfe GMG3
X Arp EN?

PCF 51 (or 53):
Larry Thurlow LT

PCF XX: John "Jack" Chenoweth; and Van Odell

PCF94 (brought forward from "Boat Boys")

JANUARY , 1969 - (48 days) MARCH , 1969

JOHN KERRY

EUGENE THORSON

DAVID ALSTON (+possibly still recovering)

DELBERT SANDUSKY

MICHAEL MEDERIOROS

TOM BELODEAU d.1997 (TOTAL 6)

FREDERIC SHORT (replacement)

CHARLES GIBSON (1 wk indoctrination)[Ref: JFK, Boston Globe, p103]

---

KERRY'S SWIFT COMPLAINT

CNN Blitzer:

Earlier today Blitzer asked whether or not Kerry would be filing a complaint with the FEC over the Swift Boat Ad. The answer was no.

Now, Blitzer is stating that Kerry will file a legal complaint with the FEC concerning the Ad.

This has "legs." Kerry is spending money to thwart the Swift Boat Challenges (according to the media in the past few days) and deminishing his "chest." [Remember Gary Hart (challenging the media) with some "monkey business"? Where were those journalists for the past four months? Where are the investigative journalists of the '70s, who turned the world upside down with "Watergate?"]

Here on the net, it is exciting. I visited Kerry's site, looked at some materials, and days later (looked again) some of those items were missing, some were blacked out. There are stories around the net that ordinary people are looking for "Unfit" and can't get it and rumors that somebody is talking to bookstores, trying to persuade them to do something about the problem of the "unfit" book. Then, there was the rumor that there was information in the Amazon.com blurb for one the books. They say that's gone now. Was it there, I don't know.

I do know that I caught the rumor of the passage in Kerry's journal. (I call it "not shot at yet.") There were plenty of people discussing it....then it was gone; disappeared from sight. Somebody forgot to tell me and I began to think I hadn't seen it. Then, I googled. Approximately 58 refs were there, but not much at the sites. The reference for the journal quote was Brinkley's book, but I hadn't been able to find it there. Mark that one up to...rumor.

There was a free offer for "Unfit", but you know how that goes. Buy a car, get a free whatsis. (In a "no free lunch" world, you have to watch your nickels.) I'm probably not going to be able to get the book soon, and not very concerned about it. I am more concerned about lack of "access" to material because others don't want you to read it.

Nobody wants to be "hornswoggled." [Hmm, maybe CaptainsQuartersBlog.com knows how to spell that one.]

SWIFT BOOK

IS (SWIFT)BOOK-BURNING NEXT?

Salon

It’s Trick Time! You can’t read the book if you can’t find the book:

Unfit for bookstores
The Kerry campaign calls on a conservative publisher to withdraw book after the Washington Post torpedoes the veracity of a Swift boat veteran.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
By Eric Boehlert
Aug. 19, 2004 |
The Kerry campaign has told Salon that the publisher of "Unfit for Command," the book that is at the center of the attack on Kerry's military record by the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, is retailing a hoax and should consider withdrawing it from bookstores. "No publisher should want to be selling books with proven falsehoods in them, especially falsehoods that are meant to smear the military service of an American veteran," said Kerry campaign spokesman Chad Clanton. "If I were them, I'd be ducking under my desk wondering what to do. This is a serious problem."(…)

Yes Clanton, it is a “serious problem.” We, the people want to read the book; it’s already high on Lists throughout the country. There are difficulties getting the book.

Now, we know why!
(If I’m able to get the book, what’s next . . . book burning?)

MARCH 13, 1969

Ref.--TOUR of DUTY, p317:

3/12 BRONZE STAR KERRY DATA--

(…)(An Xuyen Province, Republic of Vietnam, on 13 March 1969, Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY was serving as an Officer-in-Charge of Inshore Patrol Craft 94, one of fie boats conducting a SEA LORDS operation in the Bay Hap River. While exiting the river, a mine detonated under another Inshore Patrol Craft and almost simultaneously, another mine detonated wounding Lieutenant (junior grade) in the right arm. In addition, all units began receiving small arms and automatic weapons fire from the river banks. When Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY discovered he had a man overboard, he returned upriver to assist. The man in the water was receiving sniper fire from both banks. Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY directed his gunners to provide suppressing fire, while from an exposed position on the bow, his arm bleeding and in pain and with disregard for his personal safety, he pulled the man aboard. Lieutenant (junior grade) KERRY’s calmness, professionalism and great personal courage under fire were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.(…)

THURLOW the PDFs (3)

GET THEM WHILE THEY’RE HOT: get them while they are still there!


If you are interested in the issues, save a copy of the PDFs. Of the ones on the net some have been disappearing; few are available in the first place.



Thurlow’s Award Recommendation pdf


Thurlow’s Citation Doc pdf


Thurlow’s Affidavit Doc pdf

"CAMBODIAN CANDIDATE"

CAMBODIAN CANDIDATE

Blankley

(…)Last week, the Kerry campaign released a statement asserting that: "During John Kerry's service in Vietnam, many times he was on or near the Cambodian border, and on one occasion crossed into Cambodia at the request of members of a special operations group operating out of Ha Tien ... Kerry's was not the only United States riverboat to respond and inadvertently or responsibly cross the border ... " In any event he was, as his campaign spokesman said last week, somewhere on the Mekong River, which separates Cambodia from Vietnam -- except that the Mekong does not separate those two countries; it crosses perpendicular to their border.

There is difficultry finding detailed maps---really good ones---of the Mekong Delta; but, the Mekong River has been big, and obvious on most of the maps. Guess it was an error . . .error. . .

(…)But the American political jungle is every bit as disorienting and suddenly lethal as the one he emerged from 30 years ago. John Kerry's tangled memory and war braggadocio has been mismanaged by him and his campaign team. They have given too many inconsistent answers, thus forcing the hand of major media outlets such as the Los Angeles Times, U.S. News and World Report, Knight-Ridder and the Boston Globe to start reporting the story.
Even self-admitted Kerry supporter Joan Vennochi wrote in her Boston Globe column this week that: "Kerry's statements about Cambodia do have traction for opponents ... (his spokesmen's) answer aren't good enough. ... He should answer every question voters have about it -- and he should answer himself."

More Voters are starting to notice that Kerry is not answering the questions, himself. The supporters, and the staff, and the 527s are speaking, but not Kerry. The media looked the other way but is now starting to slowly focus on the problems. They don’t want to. They’ve tried not to. Now, it seems the media have to focus on Kerry’s talking vs. Kerry’s writings vs. the FACTS.

AWOL Media

POWERFUL from POWERLINE

Please don't miss our column in this morning's Star Tribune -- you know, the one with the live link to Power Line -- on John Kerry's Willard envy: "Unwrapping Kerry's story of Christmas in Cambodia."

Tip via: Captain's Quarters

Neither the influential mainstream newspapers nor the broadcast television networks have reported the meltdown of Kerry's Christmas in Cambodia story. Only readers of Internet blogs such as ours have kept current on the exposure of Kerry's tall tale. Or on the Kerry campaign's lame efforts to resurrect a version of the story that contradicts what Kerry has said for the past 25 years, but allows Kerry to continue using his Vietnam experiences, real and imagined, for his own political purposes.

Whatever the reason -- and we have our suspicions -- when it comes to scrutiny of Sen. Kerry's veracity, the mainstream media are saluting, but they are decidedly not reporting for duty.

The media has fed US a steady diet of chosen food. We are not getting the meat and vegetables—we’re getting the JUNK FOOD. And, when it came to the KERRY CHRISTMAS we were almost starved.

The media is AWOL; and, when present and accounted for . . . they aren't really on duty.



Don’t miss this one at Captain’s Quarters:

Did Kerry Admit To Falsifying His First Purple-Heart Report?

Captain and Crew have exploded PH1 and they did it with Kerry’s own words.
Kerry v. Kerry. . . .
Once again, Kerry dismantles his own false statements.

MELTDOWN LEVEL 1: Kerry's Cambodian Christmas
MELTDOWN LEVEL 2: Kerry's Purple Heart #1

THE SWIFT PUZZLE

.
SWIFT PUZZLE
At this point, the only thing which does seem clear is that Kerry was not the OinC, Peck was. Peck was injured in that incident and did not return to PCF 94.

The "Brownwater" crews were sailing in the muddiest water we've seen in a few decades. Kerry may have been there 1/29/69, but on which boat--we don't know, yet.

To throw another challenge into the slop: There was another group who thought they were the "crew of PCF-94." LTJG Dan Salinas, Joe Muharsky, Barry Bogart, Larry Potter, Delmas Coates, Chris W..(Walon/Whelan?)Because "Christmas in Cambodia" didn't happen at Christmas, and we know that Christmas isn't in January; we are left with . . .well, let's call it "fudge #1"; but, he didn't command PCF-94 on Jan. 29, unless it was after the damage. The information appears to have been taken from Peck's data. We can call that f*#2. And then, we have Alston.

Who is the real Kerry.

Max Lane 08.16.04 - 4:07 pm [Comments section REDHUNTER--right link]

[material collection:]
While working on the Swift Boat matter, I’ve come to a conclusion. There is an incredible amount of material available on the net. There are some documents, there are bloggers with cites to websites with numerous articles. There are sagas written by vets about the actions on their Swift Boats. Like a Swift Boat Library where you can't see the material until you open the right book to the correct page.


But, there is difficulty with so much material. It’s similar to putting together a puzzle after you’ve discarded the picture. You don’t know the full picture until you can get the whole puzzle together. As you put it together, portions became clear. There is a pattern.

As the pieces are assembled you begin to suspect that it is an ether puzzle in a hologram. There were specifically numbered swift boats, specifically named people, specific events, and specific locations. The boats went from place to place, sometimes with different crews. The events usually involved the boats acting in a particular area; however, some boats were transferred from one area to another. There were crews who stayed together; and, there were personnel who filled in—which meant you must look carefully at additional personnel. And, a typical crew of an OinC plus five could also have an additional crewmember, plus passengers. The puzzle pieces are multi-faceted.

Challenges are interesting; mysteries are interesting. It’s being put together, piece by piece all over the net. While bloggers are searching for more information, some of the sites are disrupted, discontinued, suspended; and, information has disappear from Kerry’s site. Difficult to find the truth? Yes. Impossible, no.

On top of this (according to Instapundit) Oldtime Journalists are dissatisfied with blogging activities. Well Walter Cronkite, the new journalists can GIVE US THE FACTS; WE’LL PROVIDE THE OPINIONS. That should make the news coverage a bit more straight-forward. “Just the facts, ma’am!” (Joe Friday)

TWO STRIKES, Kerry

.
GWB....................................................... JFK2

Born: July 6, 1946...................Born: December 11, 1943
ED: Yale ’68 .........................ED: Yale ‘66
Serv: TANG Hitch: 6y ..............Serv: USN Hitch: 3y
Early Release: 8m ...................Early Release: 6m
Combat: None-known ..............Combat: 4m 12d (approx.)
Requested Release ’73-’74?........Requested Release: 1/3/1970
Status: Served Country ............Status: Served Country
Label: accused “Deserter” ........Label: accused “Hero”
Records: Promised Release .......Records: Promised Release
Records Released...................Action: Records not released
Politics: Conservative .............Politics: Liberal

Bush is almost 3 years younger than Kerry. Both served their country.

Bush’s campaign: “WoT” Kerry’s campaign: Vietnam Service
Pres. Experience: 3+ years Pres. Experience: None

Throw a few things in here and there, take a few things out; they are fairly equal in the overall appearance.

But, there are 2 strikes on the record:
(1) Post Vietnam anti-war activities (demonstrations, statements)
(2) Wartime personal discussion with enemy representatives (actions, activities)

The BIG MARK in the campaign will be Kerry’s anti-war actions in the 1970s. The BIG MISTAKE in the Kerry Campaign may be the focus on Vietnam. While Bush opponents have taunted (for almost 4 years) about Bush’s military service; Kerry opponents are now taunting the Kerry Campaign to release the military records.

BUT, there is another problem. There are people who are opposed to KERRY. One of these groups is the SWIFT VETS FOR TRUTH. They seem to be for “anybody but Kerry.” This causes Democrats to view it as “you are either with us, or against us.” And, they are calling the organization “Swift Vets for Bush.” They see it as a Republican funded organization; but, isn’t it similar to MoveOn.org, which seems to feel it’s “anybody but Bush.”

To the Kerry Supporters, it was intolerable to hear “with us or against us” except in the Swift Vets situation. SEEMS HYPOCRITICAL!

Bush opponents forced records disclosure, without Bush campaigning on that issue; Kerry opponents do not force records disclosure, while Kerry is campaigning on military service. Now, the military service TRUTH is important.
SEEMS HYPOCRITICAL to conclude otherwise.

**Christmas in Cambodia** changed a few minds. Saying “maybe it was January” and “maybe it was **near** Cambodia” is causing people to think that maybe they can’t trust Mr. Kerry. On point, if it had been January, Christmas wasn’t **seared** into the brain and the repeated story became embellishment of the facts. If it wasn’t Christmas in Cambodia, and then it wasn’t Christmas . . . . . .and, it probably wasn’t Cambodia, either.

For Kerry (now) there are questions of HONOR, CHARACTER, and TRUTH.
If Kerry expects any votes (other than the usual Party-Lever-Pullers who will conduct the “quick-lever” vote until the day they die) he had better release the records. If not, even the “anybody but Bush” crowd may eventually see Kerry Warts.

To all of the “lesser of two evils” voters out there, the view changes if Kerry isn’t willing to sign the standard form “180” and release the records. Enough of changing the timelines, records disappearing from the website, threatening station managers, forcing IPs (as seems the case for one account “suspended”, and another with signs concerning too much bandwidth—which might mean targeted hits) and attacking fellow veterans (who are NOT RUNNING FOR PUBLIC OFFICE.)

Enough of the attacks on O’Neill whose service closely resembles Kerry’s, even down to serving on the same Swift Boat in Vietnam. But, O’Neill was there much longer! And, O’Neill is not running for President of the United States.

Enough [of the notion that] you had to be on the boat--or you don’t count as a witness. If that were the case there would never be another witness called in any court in the land. The witness of the accident does not have to be in the car.

Sign the standard (180) form; release the records.

If not, there are two truths of life:

3 PURPLE HEARTS . . . YOU’RE OUT; &
3 STRIKES, . . . . . YOU’RE OUT.

BLIND EYE (s)

August 06, 2004
Turning A Blind Eye... And Then Closing The Other

Edward L. Daley

(…)I don't know about you, but I find it extremely unlikely that each one of these individuals is a Republican, or that all of them are such staunch admirers of George W. Bush, who is not a war veteran, that they would all conspire to spread false allegations about someone who is. It seems to me that any reasonable person has to consider that at least a few of these brave men have a little honor left in them after having put their lives on the line for this country. Certainly SOME of them have damned good reasons, other than the political kind, for believing that John Kerry is unfit to be our Commander in Chief.

Daley lists the names of the signers:
*****“Among those "fanatics" that leftists have derided, and who's scandalous assertions about John Kerry they've dismissed out of hand, are the following Vietnam veterans: Rear Admiral Roy Hoffmann (commander of Kerry's task force in Vietnam), Grant Hibbard (Kerry's former commanding officer), George Elliot (another of Kerry's former commanding officers), John O'Neill (the commander who replaced Kerry on his swift boat), Roy Alexander, Kenneth Andrews, Dan Armstrong, Ray Ballew, Ross Barker, Alexander Bass, George Bates, Richard Beers, Paul Bennett, Edward Bergin, Henry Berman, Barry Bogart, Bob Bolger, M.T. Boone, David Borden, Vern Boyd, David Bradley, Richard Brant, Robert Brant, Kenneth Briggs, Carlyle J. Brown, Kenneth Buckholz, Michael C. Burton, Joe Cahill, Joe Cantrell, Jack Carlson, Billy Carwile, Jack Chenoweth, Allan Clapp, George Clatterbuck, William Colgan, Bill Collins, Daniel Corbett, James M. Corrigan, Terry Cosstello, John H. Davis, William Daybert, James Deal, Tony DeLuna, David Desiderio, Verne DeWitt, John Dooley, Dale Duffield, Robert G. Elder, William Ferris, Jim Fitzgerald, Wallace Foreman, William Franke, Robert Franson, Alfred French, Paul Fulcomer, Ray Fuller, Steve Fulton, Mike Gann, Steve Gardner, Bill Garlow, Les Garrett, Tony Gisclair, Monte Gluck, Robert Gnau, Donald Goldberg, Morton Golde, Kenneth Golden, Gerald Good, John Graves, Charles Green, Dennis Green, H.C. Griffin, Jr., Boyd Groves Jr., Charles Grutzius, Bill Halpin, Don Hammer, Rock Harmon, Keith Harris, Stirlin Harris, Stewart Harris, Gene Hart, Bob Hastings, Curt Hatler, John Hecker, Chuck Herman, Raul Herrera, Tom Herritage, Don Higgins, Rocky Hildreth, Larry Hobson, William Holden, Wayland Holloway, Robert Hooke, Alvin Horne, Andy Horne, John Howell. Warren Hudson, Charles Hunt, Robert Hunt, Robert Johnson, Gail Ikerd, John Jones, Tom Jones, Walter Jones, Eddie Kajioka, John Kipp, Thomas Klemash, Kenneth Knipple, Robert Koger, Mike Kovanen, Bob Kreyer, Jack Lane, William Langham, William Lannom, Joseph Lavoie, Louis Letson, Adrian Lonsdale, Jim Madden, William S. Mann, David Marion, Jim Marohn, Douglas Martin, Tom Mason, Donald Matras, Thomas Mason, Louis Masterson, Richard McFarland, Kenneth McGhee, James McNeal, Larry Meyer, Jack Merkley, James Miller, Martin Miller, Marc Milligan, Benjamin Montoya, Bub Morgan, Edgar Morrill, Tom Morrill, Wayne H. Moser, Kurt Moss, Frank Mueller, Marc Mulligan, Ed Mundy, Richard Olsen, Benny O'Brien, Richard O'Meara, Albert Owens, Tedd Peck, Robert Phalen, Joseph Ponder, Charles Plumley, Chuck Rabel, Rex Rectanus, Skip Ridley, Bill Rogers, Jennings Rogerson II, Patrick Sage, Gary Sallee, Joe Sandoval, Jimmy Sanford, Robert Sattergood, Jim Schneider, Clair Schrodt, Jack Shamley, Patrick Sheedy, Paul Shepherd, Robert B. Shirley, William Shumadine, Stanley Simonson, Darryl Skuce, John Skura, John Slagle, Gerald H. Smith, Roy Smith, Tony Snesko, Mike Solhaug, Jack Spratt, Patrick Stevenson, Fred Stith, David Stefferud, James Steffes, Lawrence Stoneberg, Weymouth Symmes, W.P. Taylor, James Thomas, Eldon Thompson, Emmett Tidd, Charles Tinstman, Gary Townsend, William Trainer, Michael Turley, ChrisVedborg, Jeffrey Wainscott, David Wallace, Greg Ward, Larry Wasikowski, Pete Webster, Steve Watts, Robert Wedge, Steven Weekley, George White II, Shelton White, Gary Whittington, James Wiggins, Dennis Willess, Thomas Withey, Barnard Wolff, Thomas Wright, Raymond Wroten, John Wyatt, and John Yeoman.”*****

(…)How anyone could just disregard the claims of these people, and the many thousands of other Vietnam vets who feel the same way they do, is dumbfounding to me. To write their accusals off as merely the machinations of a bunch of extremists involved in some vast right-wing conspiracy to ruin Kerry's sparkling clean reputation, is more than just an act of the naive, the ill-informed or the politically partisan. Something is seriously wrong with John F. Kerry's nebulous accounts of what took place during his brief tour in Vietnam, and during the years immediately following his early release from military service in that war. His recollections of the 22 years he has spent in politics since then are equally as questionable, and one would have to be literally blind not to see that.(…)

[COMMENT: The above material reflects some of my thinking on the Swift Boat Controversy. The media will drift off to something more spectacular (and they say we have short attention spans) but many of us will continue to look at the controversy. Use the above link to read the full article.

Since I seem to be collecting names and attempting to find quotes and information for reference, I’ll be concentrating on the ones with a close connection, or an observation which helps to clarify the issues. Also, there was a site which listed the casualties. In checking those names, there were none listed from PCF #44, or PCF #94, for 1967, ‘68, ‘69, and ‘70 (IIRC). If I bookmarked it, that may not be helpful; bookmarking must be my favorite thing to do—I could use two computers just to keep track of bookmarks.]

SWIFT SMOLDERING

.
Kerry's SWIFT meltdown

Posted: August 11, 2004
1:00 a.m. Eastern
© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com

At this writing, the Kerry campaign has not yet responded to the media meltdown that is occurring around John Kerry's four decades of stories built on his secret, illegal missions into Cambodia during the four months he skippered a SWIFT boat.
It is impossible to stonewall a story that broke out of the blogosphere and into the major media on Monday night and Tuesday morning, so eventually John Kerry is going to have to stand by his wildly implausible tales of cross-border excellent adventures, or he's going to have to apologize for inventing personal history

[COMMENT: The spokespeople for Kerry are softening the wording, it was actually ***near*** Cambodia. We’ve been through what the meaning of “is” . . . is.
Now we have to wade through what the meaning of ***”in”*** . . .is.]

SWIFT SILENCE

.
At a time when Kerry folk are trying to silence the Swift Boats, the PC GESTOPO have struck AMTRAK:

Train Conductor Suspended for Kerry Quip


Wed Aug 11, 5:50 PM ET


(…)Farr told The Associated Press that he used the train's public address system to tell passengers they would be delayed because of Kerry's train and then quipped that they should vote accordingly in November.(…)

(…)Conductor Leslie Farr, who is also a Republican congressional candidate, was on a Kansas City-to-St. Louis train that was delayed to allow Kerry's campaign train to leave St. Louis and head to a Jefferson City rally.

Farr was suspended.

THANKS TO: INSTAPUNDIT

SWIFTEES SETTING STRAIGHT

.
Letter to TV Station Managers Regarding Captain Elliott
Friday, August 06 2004 @ 03:32 PM PDT
CLEMENTS, O'NEILL, PIERCE, WILSON & FULKERSONA Registered Limited Liability PartnershipATTORNEYS AT LAWWELLS FARGO PLAZA1000 LOUISIANA STREET, SUITE 1800HOUSTON, TEXAS 77002-5009
______________________
(713) 654-7600
Facsimile (713) 654-7690
www.copwf.com
JOHN E. O'NEILLPartner(713) 654-7604oneilljohn@copwf.com
August 6, 2004

Re: Swift Boat Veterans For Truth

Dear Station Manager:

The Kerry Campaign has continued its effort to prevent our voice from being heard. You were presented with an article from Kerry's hometown newspaper, The Boston Globe, written by Michael Kranish, Kerry's biographer, claiming that Captain Elliott had withdrawn his affidavit and disavowed the ad. This is totally false.

Enclosed is Captain Elliott's affidavit executed this morning after the false Globe story.
Captain Elliott affirms his original affidavit; affirms his ad statement; and adds additional detail. In the ad, Captain Elliott says that Kerry was not honest about his service in Vietnam. This is indisputably true.

The use of a surprise false article to strike pending ads represents a new low in ambush journalism.

Very truly yours,
John E. O'Neill
JEO/cas
Enclosure

---

O’Neill’s Letter


Elliott’s Affidavit

[Everything compacted. For exact copy, click on O'Neill's Letter]

Thanks to: Captain's Quarters

---

THE BOAT BOYS

.
STEVEN GARDNER

QUOTE #1: "My name is Steve Gardner. I served in 1966 and 1967 on my first tour of duty in Vietnam on Swift boats, and I did my second tour in '68 and '69, involved with John Kerry in the last 2 1/2 months of my tour. The John Kerry that I know is not the John Kerry that everybody else is portraying. I served alongside him and behind him, five feet away from him in a gun tub, and watched as he made indecisive moves with our boat, put our boats in jeopardy, put our crews in jeopardy... if a man like that can't handle that 6-man crew boat, how can you expect him to be our Commander-in-Chief?"
-- Steven Gardner (Swift Boat Site)

QUOTE #2: "It was physically, totally, categorically, across-the-board impossible to get into the canal that went to Cambodia with a swift boat," says Gardner. "There were concrete pilings that were put in the water...plus, the Navy kept patrol boats there to make sure nobody went in. When I was on the 44 boat, it was a physical impossibility to take a swift boat into Cambodian waters." Byron York on Cambodia

---

#94

JANUARY , 1969 - (48 days) MARCH , 1969

JOHN KERRY

EUGENE THORSON

DAVID ALSTON

DELBERT SANDUSKY

MICHAEL MEDERIOROS

TOM BELODEAU d.1997 (TOTAL 6)

FREDERIC SHORT (replacement)

CHARLES GIBSON (1 wk indoctrination)

---

WAKE UP CALL

.
By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff, 6/19/2003

Kerry's stay in the lieutenant governor's office would be brief.
On Jan. 12, 1984, a year into his four-year term, Kerry was in Germany's Black Forest on an acid rain fact-finding trip when he received stunning news of an announcement that would be made later that day back in Boston -- illness was forcing Paul E. Tsongas to give up his seat in the US Senate.

"I was woken up at 3 in the morning and told Paul Tsongas was not running," Kerry remembers.

An incredible opportunity was at hand. "But it was tricky," said Kerry.
As a candidate, he had said he was not seeking the lieutenant governor's job as a political stepping-stone. "I was concerned that it would be viewed as not having learned the lessons [of 1972] and that it was premature," he said.

"One year into the lieutenant governor's office, to stand up and say `Hey, I think I should be senator,' " Kerry said. "You know, it was ballsy.

"But it was the right place for me in terms of the things that were my passions," he recalled. "The issue of war and peace was on the table again."

Two weeks later, Kerry jumped into the race.

ASKED TO LEAVE!

.

MCCULLOUGH: "Vietnam Kerry" was asked to leave
Monday, August 09, 2004

Wright interview

(…)Naval Officer Thomas Wright served our nation for 21 years. He also served as one of Kerry's superiors in the tough assignment of Swift Boat patrols on the southern tip of Vietnam. Lt. Wright frequently experienced trouble with Kerry.

According to Wright, Kerry frequently broke the protocol of engagement according to the swift boat commanders.

"When you're in a group [of boats on patrol], you don't open fire unless the person in charge tells you to or unless you are defending yourself from an immediate attack," said Wright. "I'd have problems because we'd be running on a river and Kerry would see something off in the distance, and he'd take a pot-shot at it, to see what happened. And that wasn't the way we were trying to run the patrols.

"We were trying to get in and find out what was going on and hopefully make contact and begin to work with some of the people that lived there," said Wright. "And you don't get to go shake their hands when you're shooting at them."

I asked Wright how Kerry would respond to the necessary correction that would follow such unilateral actions.

"Well during the mission - you just continue to issue the orders that you expect people to follow," said Wright, "and if they don't do them, you would continue to press until you got the results that you need.

"After a mission, is generally when you work out the more difficult problems. And those are done in private.

"I'd go talk to John Kerry and I'd tell him that I was unhappy with his opening fire, or pulling out of a column when he wasn't supposed to, or failing to communicate when he needed to," Wright continued. "And I'd always get an excuse. I wouldn't get a direct answer. I'd get 'I didn't hear that', or 'we thought we saw something' or 'my radio was on the other side of the boat' or 'I didn't have time.' It was always an excuse. After three of four times... I went to the division commander, told him about the problems I have been having and told him [the commander] that he needed to take steps to correct it."

That brought me to the shocker of the interview. To hear John Kerry speak about his time in Vietnam is to hear a self-personified story of heroics. Lt Wright remembers what happened after Kerry's third purple heart quite differently.

"When he got his third purple heart, that evening, and we didn't particularly care what it was for, we knew that he had three. That evening, I and two other people went in and told him that we felt that he should go home. It was something that he could do... He told us that he didn't want that, that it was his intention to serve his country, and the next morning he was gone. And we were happy and didn't worry about it."(…)

more SWIFT BOAT

.
AT INSTAPUNDIT:

posted at 09:29 AM by Glenn Reynolds

Links to more information on the Swift Boat Controversy:

2003 Boston Globe story
Ed Morrisey notes the inconsistencies
Who journalists should be interviewing
Questions that aren’t being asked or answered
More thoughts
N.Z. Bear’s thoughts